Appalachian Conservation Corps ($151,336) – Roanoke Young Women’s Youth Conservation Crew (2022)

The Corps will provide a diverse group of young women from Roanoke the opportunity to participate in a paid summer program, while creating connections to their community, developing real-world work skills, gaining knowledge about natural resources, conservation, and stewardship that will help them successfully complete their high school careers and pursue professional or educational paths in conservation. 

Blue Ridge Land Conservancy ($63,152) – Setting Community-based Conservation Priorities in Virginia’s Blue Ridge (2021)

Blue Ridge Land Conservancy will develop and begin implementation of a seven-county land conservation plan that will identify conservation priorities at the intersection of conservation science and the needs and interests of local communities. The project will include use of an outside consultant with experience in producing community-focused conservation plans, with special emphasis on those with experience in identifying the needs of underserved communities, including communities with significant Black and non-white populations. BRLC will locate no less than two conservation projects identified in the plan within the Community Conservation Program jurisdictions. Funds were also provided to assist landowners with transaction costs associated with conservation easements.

Dan River Basin Association ($50,000) – Students Taking on Environmental Matters (2020)

The Dan River Basin Association will partner with Pittsylvania County STEM Academy to engage 650 sixth grade students over a two-year period through an environmental literacy program that combines water quality testing and monitoring along with standards-based classroom learning.  Activities will include learning water quality sampling protocols, conducting data analyses, and developing an environmental score card. 

Kiwanis Foundation of Roanoke ($50,000) – Horton Branch Watershed Improvement Project

The Horton Branch Watershed Improvement Project is a collaborative effort designed to reduce flooding, improve water quality, strengthen local environmental stewardship, and revitalize an underserved city neighborhood. With the involvement of local schoolchildren, college environmental classes, neighborhood residents, after school youth groups, businesses, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, City of Roanoke agencies, and civic groups, the project’s focus is to transform an expansive mowed lawn into a nature park, replacing grass with pollinator wildflower/educational gardens, a riparian buffer, and wetlands. The Kiwanis are a major partner in this Project.

Mountain Lake Conservancy ($106,975) – Mountain Lake Trail Network Conservation & Connection Project (2023)

With the opening of the Giles County Trail Center at the entrance to Mountain Lake’s property, the Mountain Lake Conservancy will restore five miles of trails. The restoration will include corridor foliage pruning, erosion control, and limb and rock removal as well as the addition of benches, kiosks, bridges, and various signs along with stand‐alone posts for distance and trail name signs and mile markers. 

New River Conservancy ($250,000) – Riparian Restoration (2020)

The New River Conservancy will establish 1.5 miles of riparian buffers on impaired streams and high quality streams in Craig, Montgomery and Giles counties.  Each buffer will be at least 35 feet wide with an overall project goal being an average 50-foot width.

New River Land Trust ($229,102) – Northern Headwaters of the Roanoke River Restoration (2020)

NRLT will conduct stream restoration on the North Fork of the Roanoke River.  The stream restoration will include 3,620 linear feet of the mainstem North Fork of the Roanoke River FRR and 85 linear feet of a tributary for a restoration total of 3,705 linear feet. Stream restoration activities will include bank stabilization, riparian buffer establishment, and shallow water wetland establishment and enhancement. In addition, using the restoration work as the focus, NRLT will for two years reach all fourth grade students in Blacksburg’s public schools (approximately 900 students), advancing environmental literacy and awareness related to water quality, watershed management, and natural resources conservation, consistent with Virginia’s Standards of Learning.

New River Land Trust ($189,134) – Northern Headwaters of the Roanoke River Restoration II (2021)

Building on its prior Community Conservation Program grant, VEE provided a second grant to NRLT to conduct two additional restoration projects.  One will address approximately 2,400 linear feet of bank stabilization, restoring floodplain connectivity, the result being a restored river segment and an 11 acre riparian buffer with an average width of 35 feet. The other will address approximately 1,500 linear feet to establish 5 acres of riparian buffer. The NRLT will also host field trips to these sites for targeted landowners with the goal of expanding the scope of the proposed work to other properties in the North Fork of the Roanoke River.

Roanoke College ($88,601) – Restoring Ecosystem Function and Promoting Environmental Literacy in a Degraded Urban Area

Roanoke College has established the Roanoke College Environment Center (RCEC) which centers on the restoration of a 10-acre, degraded area in Salem. The College will transform this area and provide new and enhanced educational opportunities for the College community, its students, and Salem youth. The College will restore a landfill site into a diverse meadow ecosystem, convert two drainage swales into a functioning wetland, and restore a weedy woodlot into a forest. Restoration work will include activities and materials to promote environmental literacy among K-12 students, undergraduates, and the surrounding community.

Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission ($68,600) – Septic System Education and Pump-out Program for Roanoke County

RVARC will engage with Roanoke County residents by providing workshop opportunities that will discuss septic system maintenance and impacts of failed systems.  It will conduct at least five (5) educational workshops for citizens in Roanoke County’s five magisterial districts and will provide 150 cost-free septic pump-outs to Roanoke County residents over the three-year grant period.  RVARC will work closely with Roanoke County’s Department of Development Services, Division of Stormwater Management which will distribute educational mailers to residents with septic systems to create awareness about septic system maintenance and advertise the pump-out program. The County also plans to run television ads on the Roanoke Valley Television Network (RVTV) and Facebook ads to reach potential participants. County staff will lead and host the educational meetings.

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. ($93,114) – Septic System Maintenance Education and Pump Out (2020)

SERCAP will develop and implement a septic system maintenance education and pump out program focusing on water quality protection and public health. It will conduct 12 workshops, offer 150 to 200 households a no-cost septic pump out, and provide financial assistance for a second pump out five years after the first.

Virginia Association Soil & Water Conservation Districts ($186.725) – Agricultural Technical Assistance Support (2020)

VEE funding to VASWCD will provide an additional 5% for landowner and farmer technical assistance to four local Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the Community Conservation region over a three year period to supplement the currently available assistance to help accelerate implementation of agricultural water quality conservation practices. 

Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts ($177,600) – Accelerating Implementation of Residential Scale Stormwater BMPs (2021)

The Association will use the VEE funds to kick-start the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP) in four Soil and Water Conservation Districts: Blue Ridge, Mountain Castles, Pittsylvania, and Skyline.  These four Districts host the Community Conservation Program jurisdictions and have had few, if any, VCAP projects as of the date of the grant application. The funds would be available to all qualified residential and commercial projects throughout the four Districts. VCAP provides landowner funding assistance for conservation landscaping, rain garden and dry well implementation, construction of wetlands, impervious surface removal, and other stormwater management practices. As part of the grant, the Association will provide upfront payments to a district to incentivize its work in implementation of VCAP and also help to pay for a part-time shared staff person to assist in implementing VCAP projects across the four Districts.

Virginia Tech ($97,731) – Maintaining Water Quality for Private Water Supplies in Southwest VA (2020)

Virginia Tech will expand a successful Virginia Cooperative Extension program to provide low-cost water quality testing and private system stewardship to well and spring users in Southwest VA.  It will provide subsidized well water testing for targeted lower income households. It will also offer free in-line commercial tap filters to a subset of households with high metals contamination as a possible practical method for remediation. 

Western Virginia Water Authority ($136,725) – Community and Environmental Harm Reduction

Through Proper Storage and Disposal of Medications (2021)

The Western Virginia Water Authority, in partnership with the Focus on Response and Education to Stay Healthy Coalition of Franklin County, Prevention Council of Roanoke Count, and the Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition, will execute a community-wide plan to address the environmental and health issues surrounding medication disposal and misuse in the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Roanoke, Franklin, and Craig.  The goal is to help protect water quality and improve community knowledge about the health and environmental risks associated with the improper storage, disposal, and misuse of prescription drugs.

Wetlands Watch ($225,554) – Building Land Conservation and Floodplain Management Capacity in Western Virginia (2023)

Wetlands Watch with its statewide recognition as an expert on supporting local communities and local governments as they struggle to address the impacts of climate change will expand its work to help the jurisdictions of the Community Conservation Program in capacities to compete for funding to address flood mitigation and water quality needs. Wetlands Watch will offer to assist these Program jurisdictions in obtaining access to a wide range of funding opportunities and to create staff expertise within local government and/or Planning District Commissions that will result in a sustainable grantmaking capacity and greater environmental program participation by them.